234 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS [XXXI, *2O 



one cover a "Manual" of the Orthoptera of any very considerable part 

 of North America. The part of the title "Northeastern America" is 

 unfortunate, as America is made up of several major divisions and South 

 America has, as well, a northeastern section. The words "Eastern North 

 America" certainly should have been used, as the first sentence of the 

 Introduction would indicate. 



The manual is intended to treat of the order as found in "the United 

 States east of the Mississippi River and Canada east of the goth Meri- 

 dian." 



The volume is divided into the following major sections: Introduction, 

 A Descriptive Catalogue of the Orthoptera of the Eastern United States 

 and Eastern Canada, Bibliography, Glossary of Terms used in Text, 

 Index to Synonyms and New Generic Assignments as Recognized in This 

 Work, and General Index. 



The Introduction states that the present work "is an outgrowth or 

 expansion of my 'Orthoptera of Indiana' issued in 1903." The manual, 

 as the author calls his study, is said to have been prepared to meet "the 

 needs of the tyro and not those of the specialist in Orthoptera." The 

 major sections of the Introduction discuss the classification followed, 

 which we might add is not in toto that of any previous author, synonymy 

 of species, explanations of the method of bibliographic quotation used 

 in the body of the work, the habits and songs of Orthoptera, acknowledg- 

 ments for aid received, relationship of the insects of the order to other 

 animals, the general external anatomy of a locust, the enemies of Orthop- 

 tera, preventive and remedial measures against destructive locusts, and 

 the collecting and preservation of Orthoptera. 



Under "Classification " the author voices disagreement with the enforce- 

 ment of strict priority and has little sympathy with the rigid interpre- 

 tation of this fundamental of present day nomenclature. The author's 

 belief in individual exceptions has led him into at least one blind alley, 

 as he uses a family Acrididae, but does not like to use a restricted sub- 

 family name Acridinae, derived from the generic Acrida, which must be 

 the basis of the family name. Under "Synonymy of Species" (p. 6) we 

 find a commendable analysis of the several variational factors which have 

 been responsible for much of the synonymy in the order. The section 

 criticizing the efforts of some present-day workers to locate certain of the 

 older, briefly described species is quite out of place, and gives no considera- 

 tion to earnest efforts which have been made in the way of studying 

 itineraries of collectors, checking probable collecting dates and localities, 

 etc., as well as in securing data from the original material when existent. 

 These names were published, are generally recognizable when topotypic 

 material is available and, under generally accepted codes of nomencla- 

 ture, they cannot be cancelled until they are proven to be unrecognizable. 

 Lack of the biographic, historical and other correlated information to 

 make such locations excuses no one from making the proper effort when 



